


For The Greater Good

by JMount74



Series: Whumptober 2020 [9]
Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: Beating, Blood and Injury, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:29:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26916646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JMount74/pseuds/JMount74
Summary: Chapter 1: Having crashed down, Scott, John and Virgil find themselves caught by unknown enemies.How is Scott going to save his brothers?Chapter 2: Memories of times gone by can be triggered by the weirdest things. Events take a darker turn for the three eldest boys.
Series: Whumptober 2020 [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1946881
Comments: 10
Kudos: 13
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	1. Part One

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter 1: Prompt 9: For The Greater Good: 'Take Me Instead', 'Run', Ritual Sacrifice  
> Chapter 2: Prompt 10: They Look So Good When They Bleed: Blood Loss, Internal Bleeding

Scott knew that this was not a good place to be, and he was fairly sure he was possibly leading his brothers into a trap.

But there was no other way to go.

They had been shot down over an area of mountains and canyons, the EMP taking out their plane. At least they were all together, well, almost together. Alan and Gordon had not come on this mission and were safe at home.

They had scrambled from the wreckage and savaged what they could. Scott had his gun, John had picked up what looked like a metal bar, Virgil had not picked up anything. He still insisted he was a pacifist.

Scott grinned to himself as that memory rose to the surface. Virgil had always refused to even play anything with guns; he was always the victim or the dead person. He could recall as clear as day when Scott had learned the word ‘pacifist’ and its meaning, excited to share it with Virgil. To his horror, once he had told Virgil that he was a pacifist, Virgil had promptly burst into tears and ran to their mom, wailing that Scott was calling him names.

Dismissing the memory, he brought them to a standstill, hiding behind a large outcropping of rock. Scott was nervous, there was a large open area in front of them – perfect for an ambush. It was built up all around, but he could just see a small opening in the wall opposite. Scott couldn’t see anyone, but that didn’t mean anything.

Turning to his brothers, Scott suggested that on his signal they make a run for it. He would lead, Virgil in the middle and John would bring up the rear. Risking one last glance around, he took a deep breath and shouted:

‘Run!’

And run they did. They were half way across when someone stepped out of the entranceway they were heading for. Scott skidded to a halt, Virgil and John both running into him. He tried to take a step back but stood on Virgil’s foot. In turn, Virgil gave him a light shove.

The man, at least they thought it was a man, stood before them blocking the way. He was dressed in some sort of grey flight suit and had a helmet with a visor that was down. He held a gun too, but at the moment it was not pointed at them. He was huge – much taller than they were.

John took a glance back and took in a sharp breath. Scott risked looking around to see what was going on, only to see three identically dressed people emerge from the canyon they had just left. The three were smaller than the one in front, and they fanned out around them.

Scott raised his gun and aimed at the big man. ‘What do you want’, he called. The man laughed. He also raised his gun. ‘We want you; we want that magnificent plane and we want your technology.’  
Scott gulped. It was what he had been afraid of. Straightening his back and squaring his shoulders he attempted to look brave and defiant. ‘You cannot have them.’ He spat back. The man merely laughed again.

‘You are in no position to bargain, Captain. You are surrounded by my men. They will not hesitate to kill you all.’ Scott’s shoulders slumped a little. How was he going to save his brothers? There was only one option he could see.

‘Take me instead, spare my brothers, please,’ Scott begged, slightly lowering the gun. Virgil’s hand gripped his arm. ‘No Scott, we go together,’ John hissed. No, that would never do. Shaking his brothers off, Scott took a step forward.

The man was thinking. 

‘Ok. I accept your deal. You will come here, and I will let your brothers return the way they came.’ At his words the other three separated to allow a passage through. Scott heaved a sigh of relief. His brothers would be safe. He moved forward as John again tried to stop him.

It was Virgil that asked.

‘What are you going to do to him?’ There was a slight tremble to his voice. Scott could almost hear the man’s eyebrow raise.

‘Do? Do to you brother? Well,’ he said, reaching forward and pulling Scott close. ‘What does it matter to you? Your brother has chosen, and you are free.’

Virgil’s stomach chose this moment to let forth a loud rumble. ‘Ok,’ he replied. ‘You can have him.’ Scott’s mouth fell open. This was his best friend! ‘Gee, thanks for fighting for me there, Virg,’ he said. Virgil shrugged his shoulders. It was John who asked again what they were going to do with Scott.

‘We are going to offer him as a ritual sacrifice to the Goddess Lucille in payment for Chocolate Chip cookies!’ And with that, Jeff hoyed Scott over his shoulder and ran from the room, Scott screaming for help. John burst out laughing as Virgil shouted after them: ‘Don’t worry, Scott! You’ve been sacrificed for the greater good!’

Gordon, Alan and John all took off running after their Dad as he carried Scott while running through the house. There were war cries and whooping and lots of noise. Virgil however, had sneaked into the kitchen, following their Mom in the hope of snaffling an extra cookie.

By the time Jeff had ran out of energy, Lucy had brought in coffee, milk and two plates of cookies and placed them on the table. Setting Scott down on his feet, Jeff ruffled his hair. ‘Very nicely played, Son,’ he said. Scott beamed at him. Lucy dished out the cookies, and to Virgil’s dismay (and Scott’s delight) she placed an extra cookie on Scott’s plate.

‘You deserve the extra cookie, Scott, for being brave and self-sacrificing’. Virgil grumbled into his milk.


	2. They Look So Good When They Bleed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Memories of times gone by can be triggered by the weirdest things. Events take a darker turn for the three eldest boys.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whumptober Prompt 10: They Look So Good When They Bleed: Blood Loss, Internal Bleeding

‘Hey, do you remember that time Scott gave himself up for us and Dad ran around the house with him over his shoulder?’

That sounded like Virgil, Scott’s non-functioning mind put to him. He wasn’t sure why his mind was not firing on all thrusters, but his brother sounded worn, upset. A hint of worry in the slight waver of his voice. Still Scott couldn’t quite find it in him to move or reply.

‘Yeah,’ replied John. ‘His classic ‘take me instead’ used for the first time.’

Huh. So John was here too. Why couldn’t he get himself together? Scott was starting to mildly panic. Only mildly though, he was not together enough for full-on Scott Mode to kick in. He was coming around, though.

He heard both his brothers sigh. It was John who spoke next: ‘Dad was going to sacrifice him, and you just went “Ok.” The look on Scott’s face. I still remember that.’ They both gave a low chuckle. ‘Yeah, well, there were cookies involved,’ Virgil replied.

There was a pause, a silence.

‘You always were a sucker for Mom’s cookies,’ Scott replied, his voice shaky and pain filled. His brothers simultaneously let out a breath. He could feel the relief fill the room.

He just wished he could turn to them and comfort them as he should. His sketchy memory started to fill in the gaps.

It had been a routine mission to assist a cargo plane that had crashed on a mountainside. Alan was helping a group of stranded asteroid miners and Gordon had a sea rescue, so John had gone with Virgil while Scott finished off his own rescue. He had hightailed it out to them once he had finished.

The rescue went smoothly. One cargo plane on one said mountain. One pilot uninjured and plenty of boxes scattered around the ground. Scott had left One in EOS’s capable hands as he jetted down to help secure some of the boxes. The pilot was very apologetic and thankful. But Scott had noticed something that did not feel right. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

Last thing he remembered was approaching a large container and it exploding in his face. After that all he had were fragments of images. He frowned as he tried to work out what had happened since. Nothing concrete was forthcoming.

‘Scott,’ Virgil asked tentatively. ‘Are you alright?’ John snorted beside him. They both knew that Scott was definitely not alright. But the medic was coming to the fore now that Scott was awake but still had not moved.

‘I think I must have hit my head?’ Scott asked. Maybe he had a concussion and that was why he couldn’t remember. ‘I can’t work out what happened.’ His voice still sounded wobbly to himself, goodness knew how it sounded to Virgil. And he still hadn’t managed to get his muscles into gear to move. They seemed to have a mind of their own, and that mind was no – not moving.

‘It was an ambush,’ John filled in. ‘Some of the crates had minor explosives in, some had people in. We saw the crate blow up in your face. Thank goodness you hadn’t yet removed your helmet.’ Thank goodness indeed. He was just about to remove it. Much as he saw the need for it, he loathed wearing his helmet, and was often hurt because he had taken it off.

‘There were seven of them, including the pilot,’ Virgil picked up the narrative. ‘With you down, it didn’t take long to subdue us.’ Scott could hear the anger in his voice. ‘I’m sorry,’ he replied, aware that they probably would have fought harder if he had been conscious.

John snorted again. ‘Don’t be. We’re just pleased that they’ve kept us together.’ ‘Have they said what they want?’ Scott asked in a low voice. John let out a pained chuckle. ‘What do they always want. Our ships and our tech. These won’t be any different’.’

He knew that this was not of his making, but Scott couldn’t help but feel guilty. He had not seen or noticed anything untoward in time, and he should have. It was his job to keep them all safe. Instead, he, John and Virgil were who-knew-where and he had no idea what was going on.

If Scott could have seen them, he would have laughed. John and Virgil rolled their eyes in perfect sync. Their big brother was so easy to read, and the waves of guilt coming off him were enough to drown anyone. It was Virgil who spoke though. ‘Stop that now,’ he said. ‘No one is at fault.’ Scott offered a small smile, even though he knew they couldn’t see it. His brothers knew him so well.

At least they had not stripped them of their suits. He may have lost all his accoutrements, but the suits had tracking tech in them. He wondered how long they had been missing. He must have said that out loud because John replied, ‘We’ve been missing about 90 minutes. And EOS flew both ships home. The others will come.’ There was comfort in that thought.

But time passed and no one came, either welcome or unwelcome. Virgil and John remained behind him. He could hear the clink of handcuffs when they moved. Scott had attempted to move, but he had found his hands also in cuffs, but attached with a small chain to a ring in the floor. He could get to his knees but no further, and his muscles were screaming at him when he attempted to move, probably a combination of being blown up and staying in one position too long.

After what seemed like hours, the door opened and four men stepped into the room, fanning out slightly, each with a gun in their hands. Scott heard Virgil and John stand up straight, while he attempted to straighten up on his knees.

‘What do you want from us?’ Scott asked. The man in the middle grinned. It was not a nice grin, and a cold shiver shot up Scott’s spine. But it took more than that to intimidate a Tracy. His voice was solid, his commander’s voice.

‘We wanted you,’ he said, pointing his gun at Scott. ‘We weren’t expecting them. We had hoped that since it was a small cargo plane you would come alone. Well, it is of no matter now,’ he added. The man stepped right up to Scott until Scott was forced to lean back so that he could still see the man. He hated that he was in such a vulnerable position.

‘We were going to trade your life for one of your planes. But now we have three of you, we can ask for so much more.’ Scott couldn’t help shivering this time. He had a feeling he knew how this was going to play out, having been though training during his air force days that was eerily similar. 

The men had not paid any attention to John and Virgil up to this point, and Scott wasn’t sure whether drawing their attention to his brothers would be a good idea, but he had to try something to help them. He heard Virgil shuffle slightly and he could almost hear his brother screaming in his head not to do it, but he had to try.

‘So, if it’s me you want, why don’t you let them go?’ he asked. Sure enough, both John and Virgil verbally protested. But he knew what the man would say before he even spoke.

Letting Virgil and John shout for a couple of minutes, the man smirked as he held up a hand to silence them. ‘Now, why would I do that?’ he said, squatting down in front of Scott. Lowering his voice, he continued, ‘they are going to tell me all your secrets, starting with where we can get your planes from and how to access them.’

Staring into his captor’s eyes, Scott openly scoffed at the man. ‘My brothers and I will tell you nothing,’ he replied, his conviction solid. The man merely chuckled. ‘I don’t expect you to tell me anything, Commander. They will tell me.’ He stood up and gestured to the other three men, who came and surrounded Scott.

‘I expect you to scream,’ he said turning on his heel and walking out.

The beating went on until Scott was unconscious. It didn’t take long, since Scott couldn’t move to defend himself. All the while it was happening, he didn’t utter a sound – he wasn’t going to give that bastard the pleasure – and his brothers followed his lead.

The next time Scott awoke, he could hear John and Virgil talking in hushed tones. He was still on the floor, so he assumed that wherever they were was being shielded from EOS and Five. He did not know how long he had been unconscious this time, and the thought was both frustrating and worrying. He let out a groan as he attempted to move.

Virgil’s voice stilled him. ‘Don’t move, Scott. You’ve taken a hell of a beating and you’ve been unconscious for about 15 minutes.’ Ah yes, medic to the fore again. Scott was lying on the floor again, but this time at least he was facing his brothers. In this position he could raise his hand to his mouth, attempting to wipe the blood away. He could taste it. No wonder Virgil was concerned.

Neither John nor Virgil could reach him, they both were chained to the wall behind them. He needed to take control of the situation. Shuffling slightly into a more comfortable position, he took a breath.

‘John, report. Why haven’t they found us yet.’ He could physically see the difference his tone of voice made on his brothers. They stood up straighter. John replied, ‘there seems to be some kind of shielding, and from the coldness and dampness in this room, I surmise that we are under ground. Five’s scans will have a harder job finding us.’ Scott grunted; it was exactly as he had guessed.

‘Are comms still working?’ he asked. John nodded. There was hope, EOS wouldn’t stop feeding power into the scans until she found something, and by now everyone else would be on high alert. They could all picture Grandma at control and command, directing the searches, with Gordon, Alan, Kayo and Penelope all out looking. Probably Aunt Val would be too. They had to have been missing for around 3 hours.

Scott turned his attention to Virgil. ‘Assessment?’ he queried. ‘John and I are fine, some minor bruising is all. They’ve basically not touched us.’ Scott frowned. That was good news, but Virgil look far from happy. ‘And?’ he asked. Virgil rolled his eyes. ‘I don’t know how injured you are. You’ve been blown up then beaten up. You’re bleeding from your mouth and nose.’ He paused. ‘How is your breathing?’ Scott took a couple of breaths. ‘I don’t think I have any broken ribs; breathing is painful but manageable.’ Virgil nodded. He was relieved.

It was at this point the door opened again and the four men entered. They all knew what was going to happen, so nothing was said at all. 

This time the man in charge stayed.  
This time it took a lot longer for Scott to succumb to unconsciousness.  
He bent down and wiped some of the blood off Scott’s face. ‘They look so good when they bleed,’ he said, turning to John and Virgil with a smirk on his face.

He walked towards the brothers. ‘Are you quite prepared to stand there and do nothing to help your brother? I thought you Tracy’s would do anything for each other,’ he mocked. They both stayed silent, knowing that whatever they said would not make a difference. The man sighed. ‘Have it your way,’ he stated, moving back to the door. ‘Next time my men won’t be as gentle,’ he said, kicking Scott viciously in the ribs as he walked out.

Around 20 minutes had passed before John and Virgil dared say anything. They were wary that there was a hidden camera or microphone – it had seemed perfect timing when the men had come back last time. Conversing in low tones, they shared their worry about their big brother. If the last beating was them holding back, Virgil was deeply concerned at the damage another beating would give Scott. He still hadn’t come around, and his breathing was shallow, slightly wheezy. Virgil was pretty sure that there were broken ribs were a definite now, possibly worse as the trickle of blood from his mouth had not stopped.

They both would have jumped a mile if they could have when, not five minutes later, their comms simultaneously vibrated. EOS’s quiet voice came through, as if she knew not to speak too loudly just in case. The message was brief and to the point: Rescue ETA 5 minutes.  
Five minutes later an explosion rocked the building they were in. John and Virgil couldn’t help but sigh in relief. Scott was still unconscious, but help was here. They were unprepared for the door to slam open, the leader alone and waving his gun about.

‘I don’t care how you did it,’ he spat at them. They held their breath, unsure as to what the man was going to do. He stood over Scott’s prone form, shoes nearly touching his forehead. ‘I ought to shoot you where you stand right now!’ the man raved, taking a small step forward. 

No-one was prepared for what happened next. As the man went to take a second step forward, Scott’s hands fastened around his ankle and Scott pulled with everything he had in him, toppling the man and causing the shot to go wide. John’s relief at not being shot was short lived, however. Realising the cause of his fall the man sat up, turned and aimed at Scott. And there was nothing John or Virgil could do when the shot rang out. It was far louder than the first one.

It wasn’t until the man fell to the side that they saw Rigby and Gordon in the doorway, both holding guns. John and Virgil sagged in relief. Help was here. Scott would be alright. Rigby rushed over to them while Gordon went to Scott. Wayne hadn’t managed to get either of them free when Gordon shouted over the comms for the paramedics and a stretcher. As Rigby worked harder Virgil demanded, ‘Gordon, report!’

Gordon had used one of Alan’s hand-held lasers to cur through Scott’s bonds, and he tossed this to Rigby while he went to work on his big brother. ‘Scott did get shot. Shoulder wound, no exit, in the right position to possibly have clipped his lung,’ Gordon reported succinctly. All his attention was on stopping the bleeding, but he did not miss the bruising and bleeding elsewhere.

By the time John and Virgil were free, the paramedics were there, working on Scott. And there was Kayo and Penny. Virgil had taken a step towards Scott, but his legs had given way after standing still so long. In the end they put both of them in the ambulance with Scott since neither brother could bear to be apart.

The next few hours passed in a blur of activity and medicalise that none of the brothers had ever wanted to hear. Scott had been in surgery for several hours, and words like ‘haemorrhaging internally’, ‘hypovolemic shock’ and ‘pneumothorax’ were not helping the atmosphere. 

But Scott was strong, and his family had no doubt he would pull through this as he had pulled through everything else the world had thrown at them. It would take time, and Scott was the world’s worse patient, but they would all get there.

Something was different. He wasn’t lying on a cold stone floor anymore. He wasn’t in pain anymore. He stirred slightly. His muscles still didn’t want to work, and his eyes were refusing to open, but Scott knew what was different. He was safe, he could hear his brothers.

He opened his eyes to the smell of chocolate chip cookies.


End file.
